To Save Myself
by Snake in the Grass
Summary: It's the reason I trust you so much, Riku says quietly.  I know you could kill me if you had to.  SoRiku. Darker than usual.


Hey guys, here's another one-shot to put me in the Kingdom Hearts mood. Enjoy!

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The scent of blood is thick in his nostrils, and he doesn't know whether it's his own or the reek of past atrocities committed in this place. He doesn't know where he is, only that he's been running down on an endless tangle of corridors, through rooms that look like they belong in his own house, but they're always warped, darkened. Wrong somehow.

His toe snags on a loose floorboard and he narrowly avoids sprawling on his face. A single sob escapes his throat. The echo of footsteps behind him is getting closer, always gaining, gaining. He's so afraid he feels sick with it.

Hopelessness fills him as he reaches yet another crossroads of blank corridors. This is going on forever. He is just about to turn down the left, when something catches his eye. It's a little black rectangle on the bottom of the wall, and it takes him a moment to realize that it's a crawl space—the perfect size for someone skinny and limber. Someone like him.

The steady pounding of the footsteps getting closer makes up his mind for him. He throws himself to the rough wooden floor, shaking sweaty hair out of his eyes. It's easy enough to flow through the small space, though his ass gets stuck a little. Perhaps he's a bit bigger than he thought.

The room beyond is dim, carpeted with a pale rug, furniture covered with drop cloths, the drop cloths thick with dust. It feels dead and locked down. He has to stifle a scream as he sees someone standing at the back wall. He quickly realizes it's just a mirror, however, reflecting back his pale, scared figure. Blood drips from a wound on his cheek.

And that's when he hears it.

"I can smell you, Sora." The voice is so close he can pick out the timbres, the subtle things that make it unique. "You smell like blood and fear."

He forces his breathing shallow, turning back to the wall to look through a crack in the boards that separate this room from the corridor. There is someone at the end of the hall, pacing slowly on, silvery hair shimmering with some internal luster.

"I wonder…what will it feel like when I pin you down and choke the life out of you? Will it make you hard?"

Sora feels like vomiting, because just the thought of being under that body, touched by those hands fills him with a longing so intense it is revolting.

His pursuer knows where he's gone, he tell by the way he steps up to the wall. The turquoise glow of his eyes is both familiar and strange, the manic glint tainting them beyond true recognition.

Sora is so afraid he's shaking, shaking and cold with sweat, and suddenly he's not in the room anymore, he's lying in bed under cool sheets, waking gasping from a nightmare.

For a moment he is disoriented, everything from the posters on the walls to the open window unfamiliar. Slowly, everything begins to come back together. He's in the islands, lying in bed with—

Riku.

Fear grips him, memories fresh from the dream, feelings still there, like hands grasping for him, ready to pull him back into hell. Riku's facing him, silky hair tossed about the pillow like spun silver. His face is relaxed with sleep, lips slightly parted. As he shifts a bit, Sora can see the little red marks on his neck, a souvenir from their activities before they fell asleep the night before. With a sob, Sora buries his face into the curve of his shoulder, wrapping his arms around his waist.

"Sora…?" The murmur was thick with sleep, lazy and slow. One vibrant green cracked open. "What's wrong?"

"I had a bad dream," Sora says into his neck, unable to stop the shivers from wracking his body, the release of emotion. He feels Riku's arms wrap around him, hands slowly messaging his hips, just the way he likes it.

"It's alright," he says softly, breath warm against Sora's ear. "It's over."

Sora looked up. "It was about you. You were trying to kill me."

Riku says nothing for a few moments. He swallows visibly. "It was just a dream, Sor."

"I know," Sora whispers. "But I was so scared. I wanted to kill you too."

"Well, that makes sense." Riku smiles slightly, kissing Sora on the forehead. "If I was trying to kill you."

Sora shakes his head. "No, I mean, really. In real life, when the darkness had you, I would have killed you to save myself and the world."

Riku searches his face for a minute or two. "Good," he says at last.

Sora doesn't understand. "What? How is that good?"

"It's the reason I trust you so much," Riku responds quietly. "I know you could kill me if you had to."

Strangely, that is comforting. Sora smiles, burying his face into Riku's chest, inhaling his scent and slowly drifting back to sleep. Dreamless, this time.

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I wrote this because I woke up from the same bad dream Sora had about an hour again, and it was so fresh in my memory I had to write it. Why did I turn it into a KH fanfic? Because in the dream I was Sora, running from Riku. It was really scary. Hope you guys liked it!!!! 


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